UKFast Launches Self-Service eCloud Flex

Cloud computing firm UKFast has today launched a new self-service, open source cloud platform, built on OpenStack and hosted entirely in the UK with no vendor lock-ins.

eCloud Flex uses Openstack’s scalable platform allowing for automatic configuration and deployment. Developers have the freedom to build their own infrastructure, customise from existing configurations or use pre-configured frameworks.

UKFast CEO Lawrence Jones MBE said: “eCloud Flex is the next stage for our eCloud range. We are in a position to meet any cloud need of every client. Whether they’re looking for a highly secure private cloud, on-demand storage space or open source development space – eCloud delivers it all.

“We’re excited to offer our clients the opportunity to take advantage of the flexibility and customisation offered by OpenStack and fully featured software-defined networking, twinned with a £20m cloud infrastructure and the unbeatable customer service and support which is UKFast’s trademark. We’ve been using OpenStack to develop in-house systems for many years but this is our first commercial offering on the platform.

“It’s on our network so it’s fast, it’s cheaper than Amazon’s AWS and it’s entirely British, so users have the assurance that all their data is staying here in the UK, which is an important factor with Safe Harbour being at the front of many people’s minds.”
The new product in the range will allow developers to programmatically build and spin up anything from individual VMs to entire virtualised hosting platforms with the provided open APIs. Flex comes 18 months after the 2014 launch of UKFast’s web-based ‘drag and drop’ cloud storage solution, eCloud Vault.

Jones added: “The beauty of Flex is that it’s completely self-service. This type of model allows people to really get the most out of cloud computing. It gives them the flexibility to develop infrastructure in seconds, using open source and software-defined network pools, with all the power they need at their fingertips. Developers can even demo it for a month for free.

“Flex frees users to allocate computing capabilities and to automatically upscale or downscale resources as they experience peaks and troughs of demand. That means that there will be less unused capacity, avoiding waste and making it more cost effective.